Concern Mounts over Influx of 6,000 Illegal Miners from Mali to Osun

 

Thousands of illegal miners from Mali, a Franco-phone West African country, who allegedly entered Osun State, have been generating apprehension among the residents of the state.

Media investigation revealed that between the month of April 2017 and February 2019, no fewer than 6,000 illegal miners from Bamako,  the capital of Mali, and its environs, have settled in Ijesa land in  Osun East senatorial district of the state to work as labourers at the various  illegal mining sites in the area.

It was  however  gathered  that the immigrants have taken advantage of porous Nigerian land boarders to enter the country in multitudes,  not minding that  they do not possess legal document that support their expedition in the country.

A  source, who spoke with some journalists under anonymity because he is not in position to speak on the issue, said those illegal miners from Mali have been linked with several criminal activities,  ranging from highway robberies to kidnappings among others.

The source faulted the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) for not living up to expectation in their statutory obligation of regulating and monitoring migration into the country.

He stressed that the way the illegal migrants besiege the state without check and action, there was no immediate solution to security challenges facing the state (and the country) presently.

The source contended that the government has been scratching the issue on the surface rather than tackling it from the root and get the desired result.

However, "the people of the state are worried with the influx of Malians coming into the state without steps to stop them as well as regulate their activities.

"We even learnt that many of them are just disguising as miners while in the actual fact they are criminal elements that continue to terrorise innocent citizens in the state."

It was reliably gathered from the source that the early set of miners who came into the state in 2017 were the ones who invited some of their friends who seem to have criminal tendencies, and started unleashing terrors on the people.

"I believe many of the security agencies working in the state are aware of this through their intelligence gathering mechanism, otherwise there is little or nothing to be achieved in the efforts to stamp out insecurity in the state.

"You will agree with me that Mali is one of the most volatile countries in West Africa, which is the base of Alshabab, a deadly Islamic extremists, carrying out nefarious activities in the country up till Kenya in the East Africa region.

"I think it is pertinent to look into this security threat and take action without delay before it degenerates further."

A resident of Ibodi, one of the communities with multiple illegal mining sites and densely populated by the miners from Mali, who preferred anonymity, said the community is under the siege of foreigners who worked at the illegal mining sites.

He lamented the influx of these foreigners into the community, saying every resident of the community is apprehensive over the development.

 The resident noted that majority of the miners working in the community and adjourning villages are from Mali and appear very hostile to the people of the area.

Consequently, a civil society organisation working in the state, Advocacy for Peace in Africa, has also expressed concern over the issue, citing various criminal activities in the past that linked heavy presence of foreigners in the area with insecurity.

The state Coordinator of the organisation in the state, Sunday Adams, stressed that accounts of victims of kidnappings and robberies on Akure-Ibadan expressway have given credence to the suspicion that some of those migrants from Mali, who claimed to have come to work at mining sites, were also responsible for criminal activities on the highway.

While speaking on the issues the state Police Public Relations Officer, SP Folashade Odoro, in her reaction, said although some arrests were made in the past, adding that there was no specific identification of any suspect as Malian.

"I cannot specifically state that any Mali national was arrested. I can't remember we made such arrest," Odoro resorted.

Also, the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), Osun State Command declined comment when contacted for reaction on the issues.

A source in the command who pleaded anonymity confided in newsmen that nothing much has been done to check the influx of illegal migrants mainly from Mali into the state.